Alfa Romeo’s best result in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix was Valtteri Bottas’ fourteenth place. His teammate Guanyu Zhou showed the 17th fastest time and did not finish the first part. Both riders think they have a chance to win points this weekend.
Valttery Bottas (14th): “Of course we aimed for more than reaching the second part of qualifying, but the positive results include that the gap is minimal.
Overall a pretty good qualifying, although I spun around at the start of the first session – I got too close to the Red Bull driver, who didn’t see me, and lost control of the rear of the car. Not the most ideal situation, but luckily I was able to continue the session.
We are a little short on speed on a fast lap – in the evening the team will focus on this. Tomorrow is a new day, so we still have a lot of room for improvement. The goal, as usual, is to earn points, we’ll work on that.”
Guanyu Zhou (17th): “In my opinion today’s result does not reflect our pace – I believe the speed of the car meant we could count on more. At the end of the first part of qualifying I ended up at the end of a close group of cars and stayed on the track for over ten seconds to let them move forward. This cooled the tires and I lost time in the first sector of the fast lap.
On the third sector I was able to win back a bit, but this was not enough. In any case, I feel we had potential, so I can’t say I’m happy with the results of the session.
Now all our focus is on preparing for the sprint – I hope we can fight for the points. As for the car, it has good balance and overall good control.
I think we have the potential to do better on Saturday and Sunday. I am sure we will have opportunities to regain positions and earn points.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
